In order to mitigate those drawbacks, proposals have been made to motorize airplane undercarriages so as to make them self-propelled for taxiing. Thus, document FR-2 065 734 describes, in the embodiment of its FIG. 2, an aircraft undercarriage including a motor positioned extending a hub of a wheel of the undercarriage, on the axis thereof. The motor serves to drive the wheel for self-propelled taxiing of the airplane on the ground, and thus without it being necessary to make use of a tractor.
Nevertheless, that arrangement generates numerous constraints concerning the choice of the type of motor and its dimensioning, or indeed concerning the undercarriage itself. There is not much space within the rim or the hub, nor even in the immediate environment of the wheels of the undercarriage. Furthermore, on landing there is an impact when the wheels make contact with the ground. In spite of the presence of tires, the impact is substantial and the motor must be designed to withstand such an impact, thereby giving rise to additional constraints in its design.